Current ABTA Funding

2011 – 2012 ABTA RESEARCH FUNDING 

FELLOWSHIPS

The American Brain Tumor Association Basic Research Fellowship is a two-year fellowship designed to encourage talented scientists early in their careers to enter, or remain in, the field of brain tumor research.

Christian Badr, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Charleston, MA
Sponsor: Bakhos A. Tannous, PhD

Myriam Chaumeil, PhD
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Sponsor:  Sabrina Ronen, PhD

Tooba Cheema, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Sponsor: Robert L. Martuza, MD

Andrew S. Chi, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Sponsor: Bradley E. Bernstein, PhD  

Kevin Choe, MD, PhD
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Sponsor: Luis Parada, PhD

Daniel Ciznadija, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Sponsor: Andrew Kuff, PhD

Scott John Diede, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Sponsor: Stephen J. Tapscott, MD, PhD 

Vivian Gama, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Sponsor:  Mohanish Desmukh, PhD

Amelie Griveau, PhD
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Sponsor: David H. Rowich, PhD 

Christian Grommes, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, New York, NY
Sponsor: Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD

David Infanger, PhD
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Sponsor: Claudia Fishbach-Teschl, PhD

Dohoon Kim, PhD
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA
Sponsor: David Sabatini, MD, PhD

Youngmi Kim, PhD
Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH
Sponsor: Jeremy N. Rich, MD

Jisook Lee, PhD
University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
Sponsor: Brian Eliceiri, PhD

Sichen Li, PhD
University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Sponsor: Albert Lai, MD, PhD

Yan Li, PhD
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Sponsor: Sarah Nelson, PhD

Casey Maguire, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA
Sponsor: Bakhos A. Tannous, PhD

Lisa Matlaf, PhD
California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA
Sponsor: Charles S. Cobbs, MD, PhD

Ilwoo Park, PhD
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Sponsor:  Sarah J. Nelson, PhD

Teodoro Pulvirenti, PhD, 
Sloan-Kettering Institute, New York, NY
Sponsor: Alan Hall, PhD and Vivian Tabar, MD

Maria Sambade, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Sponsor: Janiel Shields & Ryan Miller, MD, PhD

David Schonberg, PhD
Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH
Sponsor:  Jeremy N. Rich, MD, PhD

Monica Venere, PhD
Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH
Sponsor: Jeremy N. Rich, MD, PhD, and Matthew Summers, MD

Karen Vrijens, PhD
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
Sponsor: Martine Roussel, PhD

Leanne Wybenga-Groot, PhD
Hospital for Sick Children,  Toronto, Ontario, Canada    
Sponsor:  Jane McGlade, PhD

Jian Zhang, PhD
Columbia University New York, New York, NY
Sponsor:  James L. Manley, PhD

TRANSLATIONAL GRANTS

The American Brain Tumor Association Translational Grant is a one year award for pre-clinical research that critically evaluates the diagnostic and/or therapeutic potential of recent discoveries for advancement to clinical application.

Mukund Seshadri, PhD
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY
“Disrupting Glioma Vasculature for Enhanced Drug Delivery”
 
Jialiang Wang, PhD
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
“Targeting the Notch Signaling Pathway in Molecularly Defined Tumor Subtypes of Glioblastoma”


DISCOVERY GRANTS

The American Brain Tumor Association  Discovery Grant is a one year award supporting high risk/high impact projects that have the potential to change current diagnostic or treatment paradigms for either adult or pediatric brain tumors.

Lynn Bemis, PhD
University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO
“Survival Outcomes and Patient Immune Responses in Pediatric CNS Tumors: the Role of microRNA-221 and Exosomes”

Clark Chen, PhD
University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
“Dopamine Receptor 2 (DRD2) as a Novel Target for Glioblastoma Therapy”

Samuel Cheshier, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
“Utilization of  Novel Computational Approach-- Mining of Developmentally Regulated Genes-- to Discover New Developmental Hierarchies within Brain Tumor Stem Cells and Progenitors”

Bin Hu, PhD
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
“Role of Fibulin-3 on Glioma Vascularization and Activation of Notch Signaling in Endothelial”

Yunqing Li, MD
Hugo W. Moser Research Institute, Baltimore, MD
“Glioblastoma Cell Reprogramming by Defined Reprogramming Factors & Oncogene Signaling”

Akiko Mammoto, MD, PhD
Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
“Mechanical Control of Angiogenesis in Glioblastoma”

Stacy McCarty, MD
Rehabilitation Institution of Chicago, Chicago, IL
“The Outcomes and Cost of Day Rehabilitation in Individuals with Malignant Brain Tumors”

Rajesh Mukthavaram, PhD
Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA
“Identification of Potential Olig2 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Glioblastoma”

Nader Sanai, MD
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ
“Identification of a Spectroscopic Signature of Human Glioblastoma Stem Cells”

Martyn Sharpe, PhD
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, TX
“Targeting Mitochondria with a New Class of Glioma-Specific Chemotherapeutic Agents”

Edward R. Smith, MD
Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA
“Biomarker Profiling of Metastasis”

Peng Sun, MD, PhD & Erik Sulman, MD, PhD
UTMD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
“A Germline-Stem Specific PiRNAs Identification in GBM Cancer Stem-Like Cells”

Hiroaki Wakimoto, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
“Role of Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma Recurrence”

MEDICAL STUDENT SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS

The American Brain Tumor Association Medical Student Summer Fellowship program is a three month mentoring-focused summer program intended to motivate talented medical students to pursue a career in neuro-oncology research. Recipients of the 2011 summer awards are:

Student: Raanan Alter
Sponsor: Ekkehard Kasper, MD, PhD 
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Boston, MA

Student:   Aubrey Bonhivert
Sponsor:  Balveen Kaur, PhD
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH

Student:   August Dietrich
Sponsor:  Dimitris Placantonakis, MD, PhD
New York University School of Medicine
New York, NY

Student:   Sandra Ho
Sponsor:  Michael Lim, MD
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

Student:    Melody Lun
Sponsors: Christopher Walsh MD, PhD & Maria Lehtinen, PhD
Children's Hospital Boston
Boston, MA

Student:   Daniel Nagasawa
Sponsor:  Isaac Yang, MD
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Student:   Yiannis Philippou
Sponsor:  Albert Lai, MD, PhD
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Student:   Alexander Pine
Sponsor:  Jorg Dietrich, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA

Student:   Moshe Praver
Sponsor:  Peter Canoll, MD, PhD
Columbia University
New York, NY

Student:   Kevin Quinn
Sponsor:  Young Kwok, MD
University of Maryland
Baltimore, MD

Student:   Lauren Rotman
Sponsor:  Mark Souweidane, MD
Weill Cornell Medical College
New York, NY

Student:   Nicolas Villelli
Sponsor:  E. Antonia Chiocca, MD, PhD
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Columbus, OH
 
Student:   Nicolas Yannuzzi
Sponsor:  Ingo Mellinghoff, MD
Weill Cornell Medical College & Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY

Student:   Ryan Youland
Sponsor:  Jann Sarkaria, MD
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN

Student:   Michael Youssef
Sponsor:  Bruce Frankel, MD
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC

BRAIN TUMOR FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE

The Brain Tumor Funders' Collaborative is a partnership among the following private philanthropic and advocacy organizations: American Brain Tumor Association, Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation, James S. McDonnell Foundation, National Brain Tumor Society, and the Sontag Foundation. Together, the Funders have supported three multi-million dollar projects and eleven biomarker feasibility studies.

ABTA/AANS/CNS CLINICAL RESEARCH AWARD

A two year clinical award in collaboration between the American Brain Tumor Association, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.  The grant supports clinical research trials designed to provide pilot project data for projects with direct clinical application.

Linda Liau, MD
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
"Adoptive Transfer of NY-ESO-1 Genetically Engineered TCR for Treatment of Glioblastoma"

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH FELLOWSHIP

A collaboration between the American Brain Tumor Association, EMD Serono, and the Society for Neuro-Oncology, this one-year fellowship provides an opportunity for professionals from outside North America to perform clinical, translational or basic research in the area of pediatric or adult neuro-oncology in a clinical and/or laboratory setting in the United States or Canada.

Yi Lin, MD
Beijing Neurosurgical Institute
Mentor: Jay-Jiguang Zhu, MD
Host instituion:  MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

Jun-Ping Zhang, MD 
Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital
Mentor: Patrick Wen, MD, PhD
Host institution: Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

BRAIN TUMOR EPIDEMIOLOGY CONSORTIUM (BTEC)
JUNIOR INVESTIGATOR AWARDS

These awards support the research interests of early career epidemiologists by making it possible for them to present their work at the annual BTEC meeting amongst an international audience of epidemiologists.

Kyle Walsh, PhD
University of California San Francisco, CA

Anna Luisa Di Stefano, MD
University Pierre et Marie Curie, France

CENTRAL BRAIN TUMOR REGISTRY OF THE UNITED STATES (CBTRUS) GRANT

One of the primary objectives in ABTA’s founding, and continued support, of this registry is to ensure the existence of data on the incidence (the number of people diagnosed each year) and the prevalence (the number of people living with a brain tumor in any given year) of both benign and malignant brain tumors. World-renowned epidemiologists and neuro-pathologists now lead the domestic and international initiatives put forth by this registry. We nurture the CBTRUS initiative in recognition that this disease will be better understood once the true incidence of brain tumors is documented.

SPORE COLLABORATIVE FUNDING PROJECT

This initiative is a collaboration between the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA), Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC²), the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Grants provided through this mechanism provide supplemental support to two clinical trials sponsored by NCI’s  SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) program.

Andrew Parsa, MD, PhD
University of California San Francisco, CA

John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

SURVIVORSHIP

Studies looking at the impact of a brain tumor diagnosis on the lives of patients, families and survivors. 

Jeffrey Raizer, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago, Illinois
"Analysis of Out-of-Pocket Costs of Care and Quality of Life Concordance"

Angela Starkweather, PhD
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
ABTA/Oncology Nursing Foundation Neuro-oncology Nursing Small Grant 
"Glial Activation and Symptoms in Patients with Brain Tumor."


Current as of July, 2011